The OFFICIAL Halfway

The Appalachian Trail is 2,174 miles long. You may have heard us say that it is 2,175 miles long. I've seen a lot of t-shirts and bumper stickers that use that figure. The ATC, which publishes the official Data Book, notes that annual increases or decreases are due to trail relocations, which happen all the time as a result of maintenance, land acquisition, etc.

Anyway, the point is, we hit the official halfway point. It is a hiker tradition to eat a half gallon of ice cream at the halfway point, which is near Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Many hikers try to eat it really fast. The time to beat is 4 minutes and 40 seconds, although it is rumored that this hiker allowed his ice cream to melt and then drank it. On the day we went through, hikers were averaging 30-40 minutes and looking pretty ill from it. M and I declined to participate in this tradition, but did eat some fries to celebrate.

Man, it's a long way to Maine.